Tomato Seed Successes

Tomato seedlings(on left) at 4 weeks

The Aerogarden rocks!  Check out those tomato seedlings!  I am amazed and excited to think about all that Caprese!!!!  I just have to make them produce tomatoes as soon as possible, for as long as possible.  Since we have such a short growing season here, I want to hedge my bets.  I searched the Territorial Seed Catalog for the early bearing varieties: I chose 1/8 gram samplers of Stupice (ultra early, 60-65 days),  Siletz (Extra Early, 70-75 days), and Black Prince (early, 75 days).

Added to that,  I also chose 1/8 gram samplers of Yellow Pear, Cherokee Purple (heirloom, 85 days) my all-time favorite, and Brandywine (85 days).

I put three seeds per cell in my Aerogarden seed-starting tray.  The germination rates were pretty impressive:

• Stupice 75%
• Black Prince 92%
• Siletz 75%
• Yellow pear 100%
• Brandywine 100%
• Cherokee Purple 58%

After three weeks, they were crowding each other, so I re-planted the sponge cells in 4 inch Jiffy peat pots with Miracle-gro seed starting mix.  And this year, for the first time, I ruthlessly pinched back each cell to one good seedling.  I felt so bad knocking off a perfectly good sprout!  I know it will benefit the other one in the long run, but it is still “Sophie’s choice” to me.

What do I do with the leftover seeds?